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Gansu officials laud effort to cut excessive formalities

By Cao Yin in Beijing and Ma Jingna in Lanzhou | China Daily | Updated: 2019-07-19 09:52

[Photo/IC]

Cheng Jun, a township-level official from Gansu province, used to attend several time-consuming meetings a week, but that's no longer the case thanks to a campaign launched by the provincial government to reduce the burden on grassroots officials.

The campaign, launched on April 15, is aimed at improving efficiency in the provincial departments at the grassroots level by reducing unnecessary routine work, including conferences with no substance and frequent receptions. The effort is now being carried out across the province.

"The move frees me from tedious meetings, leaving me more energy to focus on my own work," said Cheng, an official of the province's Tianshui township. "Now I have more time to do research on which poor households in my jurisdiction need urgent aid or what kind of pollution must be controlled."

The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee released a circular in March requiring more effort be made to solve problems arising from the practice of formalities for formalities' sake, in order to reduce burdens on grassroots-level officials.

The circular instructs Party officials to improve their capabilities and work styles and curb the practice of unnecessary formalities and bureaucracy.

Cheng hails the implementation of the circular in Gansu. In his view, cutting unnecessary meetings not only alleviates the work burden for grassroots-level officials, it also gives them more time to discover and solve residents' real difficulties.

"Offering high-quality services for people is neither a slogan nor superficial work, and some difficulties won't be tackled if we're just sitting in the office or talking in a meeting," he said.

On May 13, for example, he visited a polluted river that many residents had complained about. He was satisfied that the pollution had been cleaned up, but a few vendors in that area aroused his attention.

"Small businesses occupy a road along the river, which may disturb traffic, and I'm also worried that the goods they sell will pollute the water again," he said. "If I hadn't gone there and seen those vendors myself, I wouldn't have recognized it as a potential problem.

"Some complicated problems, such as home demolitions and pollution control, cannot be solved through empty talk. Instead, such problems require us to spend more time studying and doing inspections," he added.

Wang Guifang, director of the township's Lianping community, agreed. She applauded the campaign, noting the real job of grassroots-level officials is to understand residents' troubles face-to-face and solve the difficulties in a timely manner.

Wang has not had to attend meetings frequently since April, which gives her more time to learn about and address household difficulties in her community.

"During the research, for instance, I found a resident who was having a lot of trouble, as she has a serious disease and her husband had passed away," Wang said.

After learning of the situation, the director helped her apply for a government subsidy. "If I spend too much time in meetings or writing repetitive reports, such problems will remain problems," Wang added.

The provincial public security department has also taken 15 measures to reduce the burden for grassroots police, including limiting the meeting time of a police station's division to 30 minutes.

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